Charlie is obsessed with movies and it’s her method of escape. When her roommate is murdered, she finds even her movies can’t help her cope. Leaving campus to go home, she hitches a ride with a fellow student... or is he?

As with any Riley Sager book, you will be very entertained; don’t expect any less. It is a bit over the top and unbelievable. There are twists after twists, that will have your head spinning. Even though I rolled my eyes and said “oh, come on!!” a few times, I still couldn’t put the book down. So make of that what you will, but I still think it’s worth a ride. The 90’s culture and Nirvana music was a bonus.

“People don’t want to admit that there are monsters in their midst, so the monsters continue to roam free and the cycle of violence and blame continues.”

“Life has failed her time and time again. The movies have never let her down.”

Survive the Night comes out 6/29.

You can always expect the unexpected from the consistently-pleasing Riley Sager. A slow start quickly leads to unforeseen twists. The writing was engaging and the storyline unique. The unlikeable, whiney MC was my only gripe; her inner monolgue was cringy and grated on my nerves. A solid 4 stars overall, but The Last Time I Lied remains my favorite of his work to date.

Thank you to NetGalley for offering this eARC.

I really enjoyed this book, it kept me intrigued. I had to keep reading! I could see why maybe some people won't like this because it felt a little forced and it was also very unrealistic but I loved it. I felt like the more the story progressed the more fun I was having. I can't wait to buy a copy for my friends and family!

It’s been a while since I have picked up a Riley Sager book, but oh my, I was very impressed with his newest release (out July 29th!). Survive the Night is a fast-paced thriller about a college student named Charlie who finds herself in the passenger seat of a ride-share with a driver that may be the one and only Campus Killer…the killer that murdered Charlie’s best friend. But Charlie doesn’t want to think that her mysterious driver is a serial killer…it may just be that her mind is playing tricks on her and she is just imagining everything...

Was this book predictable? Yes. Did I love it anyway? Yes. I found myself flipping pages at a rapid pace and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. Some scenes definitely made me cringe, but I never felt bored or thought that the story dragged on. I haven’t read Sager’s more recent tiles (Home Before Dark and Lock Every Door) after having a meh experience with The Last Time I Lied, but Survive the Night has definitely put Riley Sager back on my radar. I think fans of Sager will really enjoy his newest installment.

Content warnings: death of a parent, kidnapping, suicide attempt, suicidal thoughts, gun violence, blood, grief, murder, car accident, terminal illness, medical content

After her best friend and roommate is murdered by the Campus Killer, Charlie needs to go home and hopefully begin dealing with her overwhelming grief and guilt. She meets a young man named Josh while putting up a ride request on the community board and decides to take a chance and share the ride and gas money with him. As the miles go by, Charlie's apprehension grows, is she trapped in a car with a nice guy or the vicious serial killer who took her friend's life? Taking place in November 1991, the Hitchcockian game of cat and mouse between Charlie and Josh is heightened due to the fact cell phones were not commonplace as they are now increasing the isolation of the two participants. I was totally engrossed with this book from the first chapter! Being a fellow movie lover, I felt a kinship with the main character, Charlie, who is named after a Hitchcock heroine. Who will survive the night and who will not? I highly recommend taking this book for a ride to find out!

Winner, Winner!!

I was already a Riley Sager fan & probably had unrealistic expectations when I started this book, but they were blown out of the water by the time I finished!

When I read the synopsis, I was excited. As the resident movie junkie in my circle, I immediately connected with Charlie. The fountain of nearly useless information. The wealth of movie knowledge. It serves little purpose in day to day life, but gives such an incredible escape!

There is so much that can be said about this book, but I don’t want to give anything away! I figured it out near the middle, but I did not want to put it down. Basically, read this book ASAP!

"Survive the Night" is psychological terror at it's absolute best, and Riley Sager's best novel yet! Be prepared to stay up all night with this one!

My first thought after closing Survive the Night was- well, people aren't going to like that. But I did. Was it over the top? Yes. Were parts hard to believe? Yes. Did Charlie make multiple bad decisions? Yes. Did I actually chuckle at one of the twists? Yes. Was I here for it all? Yes. I believe (hope) Riley Sager did all of this intentionally to fit a vibe. Survive the Night was fast paced and a fun read that I didn't want to put down. I read it within a day and never got bored which I think is saying something for a book that takes place in a car with two characters for the majority of the book. Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride!

This one was definitely hard to put down. There were so many twists and turns that reminded me of early Ruth Ware books. This was my first time reading Sager, and I will be back for more.

Charlie is college student in the 1990's in New Jersey--years before every college student carried a cell phone. After the murder of her roommate, Charlie, who is deep in a state of guilt and sadness, decides it's time to hitch a ride home to Ohio. She meets Josh, a total stranger, at her school's ride board and decides get a ride home from him. Shortly after leaving the school she realizes that Josh may not be who she thinks he is. He may just be the Campus Killer that murdered her roommate. Or is her mind just playing tricks on her? Ultimately, Charlie knows she needs to survive the night.

I absolutely loved this book. I thought structuring the book like a movie script was a really interesting touch. I enjoyed all of the twists and turns and not knowing how everything would resolve itself until the very end.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing house for providing a review copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Is there anything better than a fresh Riley Sager thriller for the summer? This new novel will hit bookshelves on July 29th and is sure to be a big hit for fans of, “No Exit.”

Two strangers end up sharing a ride together and the backdrop is perfectly set in the early 90’s where it is just a little bit more challenging to let your loved ones know where you are.

A college campus serial killer is on the loose and Charlie can’t seem to overcome her guilt that her college roommate was killed. Not only has this incident haunted her, but she has started to hallucinate dream-like sequences to cope, that cloud her ability to know what is real and what is not.

When she finds a ride home with a stranger, she starts to become suspicious when their conversation begins to reveal that he never was a student on campus and that his past may be far more sinister.

The thing is, she can’t tell what the heck is real and what is that movie reel in her mind.

This was fun, fun, fun and a great beach read escape.

I wouldn’t say it is my favorite from this author, but I will say that he always delivers on the perfect summer thriller that can keep you up all night.

quick, heart-pounding thriller. Set in the early 90s which is really cool considering I'm reading this in 2021. Definitely would make a really interesting Netflix show.

An adrenaline rush popcorn thriller! I love the way Sager takes familiar plots and writes them in a fresh way. Great buildup of tension in the first 3/4 and then a roller coaster of a final act. Each twist was even more exciting than the last and Charlie’s growth was satisfying.

If you struggle with suspension of disbelief, you might want to look elsewhere. I had an issue with one minor part of the ending (like literally the last half a page in my NetGalley ARC), but the preceding parts of the italicized section were a perfect landing for me!

The only realistic part of this book was the university ride share board - I was at university in the early 2000s and we definitely had them even then.
The rest of this book is absolutely balls-to-the-wall insane. Everything is always happening and none of it is really established as far as planting and payoff go.
I did my best to suspend my disbelief through the active campus serial murderer, getting into a car with a stranger that is also a lying liar who lies, unspecified mental illness that causes the protagonist to see vivid movies in her head that she can only distinguish from reality once they end, and throwing out prescribed medicine to manage these mind movies. But then we get to the diner, and I could no longer put a metaphorical pin in the plot disasters.
In the final 100 pages of this book, an excessive amount of story happens - double crosses, stabbings, guns, cars off bridges, houses burning down. On their own , some of these could have been fine, but to throw everything at the wall was excessive. The first part of the story is agonizingly slow with so little characterization that I was kind of ok if every character was killed in a Smokin' Aces-esque massacre (which was what I was thinking we might be building toward what with the everything going on) . Sadly, that wish wasn't granted.
I did think the final reveal was interesting, but it couldn't salvage what had come before.

The most unbelievable book I've ever read, and unfortunately mot in a good way. I like a flawed main character, but this girl was DUMB.

One star because I finished it, and did want to know what happened! One star for the cool movie stuff. If youre a movie buff, maybe there are some layers here that I missed and I genuinely think that you would enjoy it in that case!

Otherwise....no. I loved Home Before Dark and I can't wait to see what comes next though.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an e-arc!

Prepare thy pitchforks because I’m about to drop a hot take that’s going to absolutely demolish the morale of all the BOTM readers that follow me. The new Riley Sager book, Survive the Night? Kind of a disappoint. A mere 3 stars–no more, no less, and five books in, his use of the EXACT SAME TROPE to show the real “bad person” is getting ridiculous. The writing is FINE, as it always is, and there are some suspenseful moments, but even the big “twist” I found underwhelming, and the second big twist I saw coming from three miles away. Overall, a meh book. Maybe Sager should take a break and try a new tactic?

It’s 1991, and Charlie wants desperately to leave her college campus. So desperately that she takes the offer of a guy in a college hoodie at the ride board and joins him for a six or so hour drive from New Jersey to Ohio. But that guy is not who he seemed, and Charlie, who is running away with the murder of her best friend and roommate, quickly begins to wonder if maybe this guy–Josh–is the Campus Killer. Couple that with Charlie being off her meds, having “movies in her mind” and the confines of a car, and you’ve got a couple hundred pages that might be a good movie, but are just an alright book.

Some spoilers ahead…obviously.

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I was just really underwhelmed by this. The “scene” switches were funny for a second, then they were just reminders that like half this book takes place in a car. Sure, I understood why Charlie thought Josh was the Campus Killer, but no part of me thought it was that easy. Kind of like with No Exit, I assumed there was more to the story. Surprise: there was. The real “perp” was revealed in like the last 8% of the book, and I ONCE AGAIN was not surprised, because in EVERY SINGLE RILEY SAGER BOOK the “bad guy” is the one who the protagonist had sex with/was romantically involved with. Every single time. Like…wow. I don’t dislike Sager’s books usually–I really enjoyed Lock Every Door, but it’s just getting so ridiculously predictable nowadays. If you read more than one of his books–and he does encourage longtime followers–then you basically spoil yourself for the rest.

Anyway…here’s Wonderwall, or something. I’m sure this will be a BOTM pick, and I’m sure people will scream how terrified they were, but a lot of them will be just like me: underwhelmed.

I LOVED this book- just as I have Sager’s other novels before it. This author really knows how to keep readers on the edge of their seats. For a book that takes place, predominantly, within the confines of a car, Sager somehow managed to keep the pace quick, and the plot interesting. I love the way he wove the glamour of classic films into the fabric of the story and kept readers on their toes with an unreliable narrator. I read so many thrillers that I often find that the “twists” no longer take me by surprise... but this book certainty did. Very well done!

What a wild ride that was! I thought I knew where this was going, but I was very wrong!

It’s the early nineties and film student, Charlie Jordan has decided to leave university after the grisly murder of her best friend, Maddie. In her grief-stricken state, Charlie ends up hitching a ride with a near stranger, but it’s not long before Charlie begins to suspect that the man driving her is responsible for Maddie’s murder, and possibly, for the murder of two other students on campus. Taking place over the span of a single night, Charlie has to keep her wits about her and not let her movie-obsessed thoughts take over.

This thriller is so taut and full of twists that I did not see coming. There were some eye-rolling moments where I was definitely questioning Charlie’s choices. But then a twist would be thrown in and I’d have to reconsider everything. The fact that this is set in the nineties when there were no cell phones or internet added another layer of electric tension.

This tale is a prime example of why women should listen to their instincts and not be nice to men who creep them out.

Many thanks to Penguin Group Dutton for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest opinions!

Riley Sager is an automatic read for me! When I read that this book was going to take place in the 90's I was in.

Charlie is a movie obsessed college student who lost her best friend to a serial killer. She feels responsible and wants to leave school. She takes a ride home from someone she soon suspects of being the Campus Killer responsible for her friend's death.

This book was just amazing. The references, the tension, the unreliable narrator. I loved it.

SURVIVE THE NIGHT is set in 1991. Charlie is a college student who has just been through yet another traumatic loss with the murder of her best friend by the Campus Killer. Feeling guilt and grief, Charlie has decided that she needs to go home. At the rides board she meets Josh, a total stranger but one heading in the same direction as she needs to go. With few options, Charlie agrees to take a ride with him to get home.

It isn’t far into their journey when Charlie begins to question Josh’s true motives for giving her a ride. He claims that he needs to be home to care for an ailing father, but some of the things he says hit Charlie wrong. Charlie has doubts about her own perceptions after she was unable to describe the man she saw with her best friend on the night she was killed, so she second and third guesses every suspicion she has about Josh.

Riley Sager is an auto-read author for me and I didn’t read any of the synopsis for this one before requesting a copy. I wouldn’t say this was a favorite thriller read for me as there was quite a bit that I predicted coming, but I still really enjoyed the ride.

This plays on the idea of an unreliable narrator in a way where Charlie is unreliable even to herself. She can’t be sure of what she’s seeing and what she’s imagining in her horror movie loving mind. The reader has much more insight than Charlie into what is real and what is not, but there are still a lot of questions along the way. Sager did manage to throw in some twists that I didn’t expect along the way as well.

While not my favorite Sager read, this was still a lot of fun and and easy, gripping read that I flew through over a weekend! SURVIVE THE NIGHT comes out on July 6!